Intel True VR cameras capture footage during the NCAA March Madness tournament. (Credit: Intel)
Video games have been the bread-and-butter of virtual reality. But a new king of VR is expected to emerge over the next few years — and it could change the way you watch sports.
The consumer virtual reality market is expected to be worth $5 billion by 2021, growing at a compound annual rate of 64 percent over the next four years, according to a new report by PwC.
Just under $3 billion of that is expected to be spent on virtual reality video, which includes entertainment, film and live events, such as concerts and sports, according to PwC.
Virtual reality video — which one can think of as a sort-of passive viewing experience, as opposed to games or other interactive experiences where users are actively exploring or participating — is expected to climb at rate of 87.8 percent through 2021, putting it on pace to surpass interactive experiences and virtual-reality game revenue by 2019. By 2021, video is expected to represent 58.3 percent of overall virtual-reality content spending.
Live events, such as sports, are expected to play a huge part in that, according to Chris Vollmer, PwC’s global entertainment and media advisor leader. In fact, they already are.
Intel True VR cameras capture game footage from all angles (Credit: Intel)
Earlier this year, Turner Sports and CBS broadcast six NCAA basketball championship games in virtual reality. During the NBA regular season, NextVR streamed one weekly regular season NBA LEAGUE PASS game in virtual reality, and a company executive told NBC Sports that VR audiences “continued to surge.” Last week, MLB announced it would live stream one out-of-market game a week with Intel True VR.
In pretty much all of these cases, users are able to control their experiences by pick and choosing their vantage points. They also can also access unique highlights and replay features.
This has become an important enhancement to the at-home viewing experience, especially as sports viewing through traditional broadcasting channels has declined.
Sports viewing was down 3 percent year-over-year through last week, according to Pivotal Research. Disney Networks’ sports viewing, which includes ESPN and has accounted for 35 percent of the viewing this year, was down 6 percent year to date.
But as sports rights become more flexible in coming years amid renegotiations, and as technology giants continue to push into the market — evidenced by the recent streaming deals between Amazon, Facebook and Twitter to live-stream games — the pace of revenue growth for virtual reality video is expected to pick up further throughout the 2020’s, said Vollmer in a recent interview with SportTechie.
“A lot of leagues and networks are recognizing that their linear audience is aging to a large degree,” Vollmer said. “And younger fans are looking for a more immersive, personalized, interactive experience around sports — something that’s more fan-centric.”
Much of the VR video experience surrounding sports is expected to be targeted at fans tuning in to sporting events from home. They’ll be able to purchase their cheap courtside digital seats and hop around the court to view different vantage points as if they’re actually there.
In the stadium or arena, however, Vollmer expects augmented reality — which interacts with a person’s surrounding physical environment as opposed to shutting them out completely with virtual reality — to be more predominant.
Whereas virtual reality provides different dimensions to the viewing experience at home — giving people access to a game in a way they might not previously have ever been able to afford — mobile apps, augmented reality and other interactive technologies in the stadium might “reimagine the sports-viewing experience” in-person, he said. Over time, these technologies could help to increase engagement among fans watching the game in person, helping to drive commerce through food and merchandise sales.
“The leagues and clubs want to keep their stadiums full and their gate revenues healthy,” Vollmer said. “I think you’ll see more and more applications, more use of augmented reality, in the in-stadium experience.”
That could include anything from using an augmented reality app on a person’s smartphone to see how fast a player is running to browsing player stats and seeing a replay that isn’t shown on the video board.
